Picture This: Hard Soul “Seize The Year” in The Cafe

That bold statement as recorded on the same-named EP was given a different reading when Hard Soul came into the CRUMBS Cafe Studio for Episode 169 of CRUMBS Cafe. Front man, lead singer/guitarist, and writer of all the songs on the record, Johnny Salka, brought in new band members Nick Kossor (guitar) and Cara Gorman (vocals) to play “Conquered the World”, “Seize the Year”, and “Not Alone” from the EP, along with “Stay the Same” from last year’s Love Eats the Young. The volume of the guitars and number of guitar solos were held in check, as the songs were returned to their acoustic guitar roots. CRUMBS.net go-to photographer Rich Krissel captured behind the scene images while the trio recorded.

Seize the Year, written and recorded last year entirely by Johnny, with drum work done by Eric Hoehn, is his statement on how one could take hold of life and make it what they would like it to be. Along with Nick and Cara, other members have recently been added to flesh out the songs live – Erin Grimm on keys and Justin Cheever on drums, with various people filling in on bass.

Host Mike Guzzo and I learned that while the Cafe was the first public show for Cara with Hard Soul, she is no stranger to the arts. She drew the portrait art work for the EP, has started a new project (Forks), and sang on other recordings, such as on Sean Rowe‘s The Salesman and The Shark and Magic. Nick Kossor is no slouch either, as he is a nationally ranked Judo champion athlete, training at the Jason Morris Judo Center pursuing Olympic Gold in 2016.

Seize the Year, indeed!

CRUMBS Cafe airs on 97.7 WEXT and onlineFridays at 11:00pm. Episode 169 with Hard Soul is scheduled for the Friday, March 15th broadcast. An encore presentation of Episode 155 with Smittix follows at 11:30pm.